In general, when a brain disorder is suspected, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is performed. Although MRI can provide anatomical images of the brain, it would not be easy to diagnose functional disorders due to neural injury. However, Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) can capture functional images of the brain, and thus allows functional diagnosis.
Considering the principle that when an ink drop spreads in water, the ink diffuses in a circular shape according to the particle movement of the water, images of nerve cells of the brain are realized by measuring the diffusion direction and speed of water molecules. That is, if any part of the nerves of the brain is blocked or damaged, changes occur in the movement of water molecules in the neural tracks and thus neural damage in the brain can be detected. Therefore, unknown brain disorders can be diagnosed.
DTI is a new imaging method that closely examines the fine structure of biological tissue by anisotropy of diffusion, using the fact that the diffusion of water particles varies according to the structure of biological tissue. An advantage of DTI is showed in the diagnosis of diseases that are not found out by general medical imaging, such as disorder in the fine structure of brain white matter. Therefore, DTI is very important for neuroscience and also clinical study.
In particular, DTI is very useful in the diagnosis of degenerative brain diseases such as dementia, which are not visible to current imaging technologies. Currently, computerized localizing of normal tissue and damaged tissue has been progressed in developed countries for quantification of DTI.